Some cosmetics applied by means of an applicator are highly viscous. Such cosmetics include mascaras, as well as some eye shadows and concealers. The latter products benefit from blending to maintain uniform color, thereby overcoming any separation during storage time in the cosmetics container. Some less viscous-cosmetics also benefit from blending to maintain even color.
These cosmetics are provided in a container comprising a bottle and a cap, with an applicator rod extending from the cap through the neck of the bottle. An applicator is provided at the distal end of the applicator rod to accumulate cosmetics. Applicators for mascara are often brushes with radial bristles. Pads of various types are used as applicators with shadows and concealers.
Excess cosmetics are removed from the applicator rod and applicator, as they are removed from the bottle, by a wiper positioned in the neck of the bottle. The wiper typically comprises a wiper diaphragm deployed across the neck of the bottle and defining a central wiper orifice. As the applicator rod and applicator are withdrawn, the excess cosmetics is scraped off the applicator rod and wiped from the applicator, so that the applicator emerges from the bottle with a proper amount of cosmetics for use.
The scraped and wiped off excess cosmetics are sufficiently viscous that they do not readily drop back into the bottom of the bottle, but tend to accumulate on the under side of the wiper diaphragm. As the cosmetics accumulate, they also spread and transfer to the upper part of the bottle, also known as the "head space." The accumulated cosmetics also tend to have a relatively large surface area to volume ratio, and tend to dry out and cake in the head space area. The build-up of cosmetics, whether dried out or merely accumulated, can eventually interfere with proper wiping action through the wiper orifice.
The shadows and concealers and, to a lesser extent, the mascaras may tend to separate in the cosmetics container during storage periods, and therefore do not maintain uniformity or blended coloring. These cosmetics may be thin enough to avoid the problem of build-up in the area of the wiper, but are too viscous to achieve the blending by shaking, and the result over time is a less desirable product.
Accordingly, it is known in the cosmetics and cosmetics packaging industry that the condition of the cosmetics can be improved and the operation of the applicator is most efficient if excess cosmetics scraped and wiped off by the wiper are not permitted to accumulate under the wiper, but are instead removed from the vicinity of the wiper orifice and preferably returned to the main body of cosmetics stored in the lower part of the cosmetics bottle. Although the desirability of such action within the cosmetics bottle has been known, heretofore there have been no efficient means for causing such action.